Since the mists of HTML 2 we’ve been able to semantically indicate added or removed information using the elements <ins> and <del> respectively. While seemingly simple on the surface these elements have hidden depths. I’ll also compare and contrast <del> with <s>, recently out of font style rehab and back in HTML5. Let’s start with <ins> and <del>…

The <ol> element has a new attribute reversed in HTML5. In addition, a couple of related attributes purged in HTML 4 have made a return, namely start and type for <ol>, and value for <li>. Making things more interesting, the returning attributes were removed from HTML 4 for being presentational. So why are they back? Let’s investigate…

While HTML5 is stable and being implemented we’re still not past losing (or gaining) an element, as demonstrated by the removal of <time> and the addition of <data>. Rather than jumping into the ensuing brouhaha, we’ve spent some time figuring out what this really means. In short? Well… it’s complicated.

The <u> element was deprecated in HTML 4 and non-conforming in HTML5, but a couple of use cases have seen it return from the dead. Are the use cases enough to persuade you that it’s a phoenix not a zombie?

We were surprised and saddened when Mark Pilgrim decided to retire from the internet and take his writing, including “Dive into HTML5” with him. However the interwebs have your back. We’re adding a mirror of the book here to add to the growing list, and plan to help keep it updated. So long Mark, and thanks for all the <>!

Given HTML’s roots in the academic world, it should be no surprise that quoting is well-accomodated in the elements blockquote and q, with their optional cite attribute. In addition, there’s the cite element, which over the last nine years went from ‘semantic orphan element made good’ to one of the more contentious elements in HTML5. Let’s power up the endoscope and examine the scarring, starting with blockquote.

While they’re essential reading material for our job, W3C specifications tend to make for poor reading material. One intrepid developer set out to change this for himself — “HTML5 for Web Developers” is the fruit of his labours. In addition to introducing this awesome new resource, we make a delicious fruit salad for you by comparing it to the other HTML(5) specs.

For those who like (to argue about) semantics, HTML5 is fantastic. Old presentational elements now have new semantic meanings, there’s a slew of new semantic elements for us to argue about, and we've even in<cite>d a riot or two. But that's not all! Also in HTML5 is microdata, a new lightweight semantic meta-syntax. Using attributes, we can define nestable groups of name-value pairs of data, called microdata, which are generally based on the page’s content. It gives us a whole new way to add extra semantic information and extend HTML5.

HTML5 contains a bunch of new semantic goodness, but sometimes we need more semantics than what’s available. This is the first article in a series looking at various ways to extend HTML5 — first up, microformats.

The <ruby>, <rt> and <rp> elements allow us to add ‘ruby’ phonetic annotations in languages like Japanese and Chinese. Despite the terrors of internationalisation and patchy browser support — with a little fiddling and a lot of caution — this sexy threesome with adorable accents are ready to use now.